Children from homeless families should not be forced to live in multiple-occupation buildings in Oxfordshire, according to Save the Children.

The charity published a report this week called Home Is Not Just A Place To Keep Our Stuff, examining the effects of placing children in temporary accommodation.

The report made a series of recommendations on how Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Primary Care Trust, could work together to improve temporary accommodation for 1,091 families.

The report was based on interviews with 80 homeless children and their parents, and found that temporary accommodation often had an adverse impact on the health and well-being of children.

Save the Children made the following recommendations to the city council's homelessness task force:

The city and county councils should phase out the use of multiple occupation accommodation for homeless families

Oxford City Primary Care Trust should streamline arrangements for transferring records, changing GPs and getting help from health visitors

Temporary accommodation should be more child-friendly

Better information on the rights of homeless families should be made available

The county council should find better ways of meeting the educational needs of homeless children. The report has now been discussed and adopted by the homelessness task force, made up of representatives from local councils, the PCT, the police, registered social landlords, Oxford Brookes University and central government. It will meet Save the Children staff in January to discuss progress.

The city council's executive member for housing, Val Smith, said: "We have signalled that tackling homelessness in Oxford is one of our top priorities.

"Already, the city council has phased out the use of B&Bs for temporary accommodation and we will use the report to make further improvements to homeless accommodation."

Ianthe Maclagan, Oxfordshire children's rights commissioner for Save the Children, said: "Living in temporary accommodation affects the lives of many children -- their health, schooling and even their physical safety can be put at risk."